Volvo 245 station wagon: everyone wants to buy this classic car

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Everyone wants to buy this old Volvo

Volvo 245 station wagon: everyone wants to buy this classic car-everyone

“I love the look,” says Daniel Kranz of the design of his Volvo 245. The car looks like it was drawn with a ruler

Source: Haiko Prengel

Daniel Kranz proves that old cars can also be good daily drivers. He uses his Volvo 245 as a delivery donkey and family carriage. The fact that a component fails now and then doesn’t bother him.

E.There are cars where high mileage is no longer a minus point – it’s a seal of quality. Daniel Kranz’s old Volvo will have driven around the globe a dozen times. But its owner doesn’t know for sure, because the speedometer of his Volvo 245 station wagon stopped a few years ago. "He should have traveled 350,000 kilometers," says Kranz. And a few kilometers are added every day.

The 45-year-old Berliner is Kirchwart, so practically a caretaker for places of worship. And as a caretaker and craftsman, you need a big car. Before community festivals, he already loads the car with 18 crates of drinks, reports the trained carpenter.

But his Volvo will also be on summer vacation gladly fully charged up to the edge of the roof. "Then it really hangs down," says Kranz. He misses a level control very much in his youngtimer. But he still holds out bravely – "all the way to southern Italy".

Volvo 245 station wagon: everyone wants to buy this classic car-wants

A crumple zone almost to the horizon: Hardly any other car protected its occupants 30 years ago as well as the Volvos of the 240 series

Source: Haiko Prengel

Fans also refer to this model as the “last real Volvo”. The Volvos of the 240 series and the related 260 series were produced from 1974 to 1993, almost 20 years. By today’s standards, it’s an incredibly long construction period, but the Volvo 240/260 was actually always up to date.

Because it not only stands for a lot of space, but also for solidity and passive safety, which was by no means taken for granted in automobile construction 30 or 40 years ago. Masses of Swedish steel and a crumple zone that feels like it extends to the horizon: the American traffic safety authority NHTSA once chose the 240 as a reference model for its safety research from: No other vehicle protects its occupants as well.

Kranz ’245 was built at the end of 1992, shortly before the end of production. As a late model, it is equipped with all sorts of extras that were a luxury at the time: leather seats, cruise control, air conditioning, heated seats: the first owner, a doctor, ticked a few ticks when choosing the special equipment. The previous owner only waived the "airbag system", as Volvo called the airbag at the time, which was subject to a surcharge.

Daniel Kranz fell in love with the Volvo as a child

16 years ago Daniel Kranz bought the Volvo from the doctor. The Kirchwart has fond memories of the Dickschiff. When he was a child, acquaintances owned a station wagon, and he and his buddies played on the almost limitless truck bed while driving. “That was a huge playground,” remembers Kranz, who today has a ten-year-old daughter himself.

Kranz’ Volvo is just standing in front of the Gethsemane Church in Prenzlauer Berg. In autumn 1989 the church was a meeting place for the GDR citizens’ movement. The vigils and discussion events were attended by thousands of people, so the church went as a symbol for non-violent protest.

Today, bearded men from the creative industry stroll together for lunch in the neighborhood. Mothers push expensive retro strollers and sip latte macchiato. The cars on the road also look different than they used to be, you can see fat SUVs and off-road vehicles. Daniel Kranz’s old Volvo looks like a relic from another time: this angular steel block, the bodywork is drawn as if with a ruler.

Volvo 245 station wagon: everyone wants to buy this classic car-volvo

When you open the tailgate, a huge storage space opens up. Kirchwart Kranz stacks up to 18 crates of drinks in his Volvo before community celebrations

Source: Haiko Prengel

Nevertheless, or precisely because of this, Kranz’245 is particularly popular in the Kiez. When he cruises on Schonhauser Allee in his old Volvo, people hold their fingers crossed in appreciation and look longingly after the Nordic classic. He regularly has little notes stuck to his car to contact him. “Some people ask for a good screwdriver,” he reports. "The others want to buy it from me."

But Kranz doesn’t want to, his Volvo is not for sale. In spite of the galvanized body, a little bit had to be welded here and there. The air conditioning stopped working three years ago. And recently the car broke down because of a defective alternator.

Nevertheless, the Kirchwart finds it more sustainable to repair old cars and keep driving instead of constantly producing new ones. “The scrapping bonus was crazy,” says the 45-year-old. At the behest of the federal government, hundreds of thousands of functioning used cars ended up in the junkyard. “It wasn’t sustainable,” says the Berliner. He kept his beloved 245 and wants to continue to do so. "I’ll drive it as long as I can."

Volvo 245 station wagon: everyone wants to buy this classic car-wagon

Leather and air conditioning, but cranked windows: car buyers used to choose strange combinations. Today it adds to the charm of youngtimers like the blue Volvo station wagon

Source: Haiko Prengel

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9 thoughts on “Volvo 245 station wagon: everyone wants to buy this classic car”

  1. I had a 240, a 340, and a 440GLS. The engines of the 240 and 340 were identical and very durable. In both cases, however, the rest of the vehicle fell into disrepair over the years: the electronics developed quirks, the seats crumbled, exhaust components had to be replaced almost every year, etc. The 440 was a disaster. The exhaust manifold tore twice, a valve burnt once, the catalytic converter rusted through (!). That thing cost me so much money that I swore off Volvo forever. Now I drive a Ford Focus from 2002 as a second car. Apart from wearing parts, nothing important has ever been defective on the car, and the exhaust system is still the first since 207,000 km.

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  2. "But its owner doesn’t know for sure, because the speedometer of his Volvo 245 station wagon stopped a few years ago. "He should have traveled 350,000 kilometers," says Kranz. And a few kilometers are added every day." Serious deficiency. Can he only hope that neither the police nor the TuV will read the article.

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  3. Nice report. I own two 245s and enjoy every trip with them. Despite the absence of various electronic "Assistance systems" I feel safe and secure in the 240. I would rather drive myself than let beeping sensors patronize me all the time. And when it comes to loading space and turning circle, the expensive rolling electronics kits cannot keep up anyway.

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  4. "Daniel Kranz proves that old cars can also be good daily drivers."
    Anyone who speaks the German language can also express themselves normally:

    "Daniel Kranz proves that old cars can also be suitable for everyday use." …
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  6. A 1992 Volvo 240 GL was / is our first car – my wife still drives it. Metallic gray, air conditioning, electric windows and locks, pure luxury (back then)! Over 420,000 kilometers now. New tires, new exhausts, but otherwise drives like new! Such cars are no longer built! Long Live Volvo!

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  8. In an accident, the aim is to absorb the energy generated in the event of a collision in such a way that the human body is stressed as little as possible. This can essentially only be achieved by the body. The first really relevant vehicles at the beginning of the 1970s were the Mercedes w116 and the 140 series, later the 240 series from Volvo.

    The quality of the Volvo series can be recognized by the fact that it has been the reference model for the US motor vehicle authorities in terms of occupant protection for crash tests of all models newly registered on the market (including the big ships from US manufacturers) since the 1970s..
    The fact that, above all, a cleanly designed body determines its well-being and woe in the event of a collision has not changed to this day, which can be seen from the fact that, regardless of whether ABS, seat belt tensioner or airbag, in the language of the engineers, these are referred to as assistance systems because they may assist in protection, but they alone cannot guarantee it.
    That’s why I still like to entrust my life to vehicles of the two series without a guilty conscience. Swedish steel as the sheet metal of the Volvo is simply thicker.

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  9. Let the author explain what "Swedish steel" is! Even an endless crumple zone does not necessarily have to be a good crumple zone. The Vovo has such an image between "advanced green and retarded comrades, it doesn’t matter whether they are old comrades from the east and new left comers from the west. The fact that old cars have been driven for a long time is environmentally friendly. It is simply a matter of maintenance and the small number of owners who age many makes of cars. The types with galvanized bodies naturally have advantages per se!

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